Augie Busch could have never imagined his journey to get here.
It wasnβt easy. But Busch is much more at ease these days. He feels good about where he is.
And for Busch, that means heβs standing on the right pool deck with the right people, doing the right things.
βThis is like Augie 2.0, quite frankly, and this is kind of a rebirth,β Arizonaβs 45-year-old swimming coach said.
In April, Busch endured what he called βa little bit of a breakdownβ that led to him to pursue therapy and re-evaluate his personal and professional life. In doing so, Busch says, he rediscovered his βwhyβ β the reason why he gets up every morning.
Itβs connection with players, something that often took a back seat to the leadership and administrative responsibilities that come with being a head coach.
βItβs like either this profession is going to kill me and or Iβm just going to keep not being happy doing what I love; or Iβm going to re-connect to what it is that I know I love about it or what it is that that drew me in to the passion in the first place,β he said. βAnd that was all about connection, relationships and having a young person trust you to take them to amazing places athletically and personally. Personal growth.β
Son also rises
To understand how far Busch has come, you need to start at the beginning.
The son of Arizona coaching legend Frank Busch, Augie received a degree from Arizona in 1998 after starting his college career at Ohio State, where he played volleyball. Busch coached swimmers at Arkansas before returning to the UA, where he spent the 2003-11 seasons as a Wildcats assistant. The UA won national championships in menβs and womenβs swimming in 2008.
In 2011, Busch was named Houstonβs womenβs coach, a position he held for two years before moving on to Virginia. While in Charlottesville, Busch led the Cavaliersβ womenβs team to three ACC championships; he was named the leagueβs Womenβs Swimming Coach of Year those three seasons.
In July 2017, Busch returned to Arizona to take over the program that his father once led.
Expectations were high.
βIf you would have asked me five years ago, based on what I was able to do with Virginia, what I was able to do in Houston on a smaller level (and) what I was able to do as an assistant coach here, I would have said, βIβm gonna crush this thing,ββ Busch said.
Thatβs not quite what has happened. The menβs team has moved forward, climbing to No. 12 in the nation last season. The womenβs team, however, hasnβt seen the same success, finishing 25th nationally last spring.
On dry land, the Wildcats have dealt with staff turnover, NCAA issues and player departures.
Assistant coach Cory Chitwood, who had been one of Buschβs assistants at Virginia, left the program. So did Beth Botsford, a former UA standout turned coach.
The UA was placed on two yearsβ probation in 2019 for an NCAA violation related to the diving program. And the Wildcats are still awaiting a ruling from the Independent Accountability Resolution process after the NCAA hit the program with two Level II infractions: one for arranging improper tryouts, and another for a lack of head coach responsibility. Busch said he expects the ruling to be made public soon.
Amid the IARP and NCAA issues, Busch said incidents within the womenβs program β he called it a βsoap operaβ β disrupted the performances of the swimmers.
The tension built up for a few years, and the perception was certain players continually broke team rules. Things came to a head at this yearβs Pac-12 Championships.
Busch knew he needed to reevaluate his program. The coach removed the athletes who he didnβt believe fit the culture of his program. Other swimmers transferred on their own. Some were critical of Busch on their way out.
βI think that the results arenβt what gave (the administration) pause. Itβs that (I) allowed the minority on their way out β either through my removal or on their way out through transferring β that certainly got their ear and made them really question what was going on,β he said. βThat might be that might have been the biggest sort of wake-up. Youβre scared you might lose your job.β
Instead, Busch received a contract extension that will take him through the end of the 2024 season.
βHeavinessβ hovers over pool
At the time of his hire, Busch may not have fully considered how difficult it would be to follow in his dadβs footsteps. Frank Buschβs swimmers won 48 individual NCAA titles and 31 relay titles during his time in Tucson. Busch was named Pac-10 Coach of the Year 11 times. When Frank Busch left the UA in 2011, it was to take over as Director of USA Swimming.
βWho wants to follow anyone thatβs really successful, let alone if it was your father?β Frank Busch said. βBut when you have such a love for for an institution, and it is your dream job, youβre not even sure what youβre about to jump into. And the next thing you know youβre in it because the people believe that youβre the one thatβs capable of assuming that.β
Augie Busch felt the pressure to win right away, his father said. That he, as Frank Busch said, βneeded to meet expectation a lot sooner than he really did.β
Augie Buschβs role at the UA was different than when he was an assistant. Head coaches simply have more responsibilities: They make difficult decisions, have hard conversations, set a programβs culture and deal with all administrative work. Thereβs recruiting, adherence to school and NCAA rules, and endless institutional and interpersonal issues that need addressing.
Busch called it βa heaviness,β and something that affected him as time wore on. Gone was the young, energetic assistant who was praised for his connection with swimmers.
Frank Busch understood. βTitle change can be a trap in that ... it takes you out of what your strengths might be, your personality strengths,β he said. βThe things that were once part of your personality, you feel a need to change that when your title changes. That really doesnβt need to happen. Thatβs a huge realization for anybody in any position doing anything when you realize: βI donβt need to reinvent myself here.ββ
A new attitude
With the turmoil over, Augie Busch is finally able to breathe. He instituted a womenβs team retreat to Mt. Lemmon and has changed the structure of practices. Now, on Tuesdays, the women lift earlier than the men and swim on their own.
The coach is more open and loose in practice now, similar to how he was as a Wildcats assistant more than a decade ago.
βEverybody can totally be themselves and itβs like a full judgment-free zone,β junior Maddy Burt said. βIt feels like a family, and now walking into practice every day, everybodyβs just so happy to be there. Itβs just so much fun.β
UA assistant coach Roric Fink, who was on staff when Frank Busch was coaching and returned this offseason, said Augie Busch is the same coach he remembered from a decade ago.
βA lot of the reasons why kids swim so well for him was his ability to connect with the athletes, his personality, the bond and the trust that came from that bond that he would forge with the athletes because of that. Thatβs exactly what I see now out of him,β Fink said. βI see the guy that understands the importance of wearing the head coach hat, but at the same time has reconnected with that part of him that made him spectacular coach, the part that brought him above just a normal coach.
βI know there were some struggles in there. But the guy I see now is the guy that I knew from before.β
Busch said heβs stopped tying his self-worth to his teamβs results, letting go of the past and standing in the present.
Thereβs no guarantee the coachβs new outlook will lead to faster times in the pool or Arizonaβs return to the pinnacle of the sport. Busch knows that. But there are signs of improvement. The coach called a recent intrasquad scrimmage the best since heβs been at Arizona.
βIt was crazy how good we were, and it ainβt going to stop,β Busch said. βWeβre rolling. Some really good stuff is going on β deep, meaningful stuff that is truly lasting. It just feels so good to know that. There are a lot more smiles, a lot more fist bumps and itβs really cool. ... I can feel it when theyβre on deck, and itβs so nice to just sense that they want to gather around me and talk, and thereβs just absolutely no substitute for that.β
β... Just the relationships and the connection that Iβm having with the team, itβs been a really important offseason for me to just do some really good soul-searching.... Thatβs really just got my mind in a different place, I think permanently in life (and) that benefits of my personal life, family life, and, obviously professional life. Theyβre all intertwined with this sort of interpersonal work, soul-searching, whatever you want to call it, that Iβve done and continue to do.
βItβs put me back in a really great place maybe for the first time since I was here as an assistant. That has led to reconnecting with my biggest why, if you will, and that was definitely the the interpersonal side of this thing. The connection with athletes, mainly relationships with athletes. It feels really good. Itβs awesome.β
